A South Texas emergency room physician decided to get creative and self-isolate in his children’s backyard tree house after coming home from his hospital shifts.

According to the Associated Press, 39-year-old Dr. Jason Barnes is treating patients who have been exposed to the novel coronavirus. Dr. Barnes made the decision to keep his family safe by taking refuge in his kids' tree house, instead of inside his family's home where he could potentially infect his wife and two sons, aged 6 and 9.

"They’re within yelling distance, but I can call or go up to the glass. They know not to open the door and risk catching something," Dr. Barnes told AP. "[My kids] love that thing but they understand, so they’re not missing the tree house ... They tell me they miss me once a day."

Thanks to the preexisting backyard structure, Dr. Barnes is able to still see and interact with his family from a safe distance while continuing to perform his job at the Christus Spohn Hospital Beeville and Christus Spohn Hospital South in Corpus Christi.

Many hospital and health care workers who are fighting on the front lines of the COVID-19 battle have been forced to make special accommodations at home or at their places of work to prevent the spread of the virus to their loved ones. Choosing to isolate for weeks from their children and spouses, these brave professionals have put their duties to the larger population before their personal feelings to help beat the global pandemic.

Precautions taken by people like Dr. Barnes are perfect examples of why everyone should be doing their best to abide by social distancing measures and thinking through every possible social encounter. The more everyone works together, the faster families can be reunited.